Police: Man's injury self-inflicted

Ely-Gardner remains in stable condition

Police say a Vermont man who claimed he was victim of a drive-by shooting on New Year's Eve has confessed that the injury was self-inflicted.

Manchester Police Chief Michael Hall said 27-year-old Donald Ely-Gardner told investigators late last week that he shot himself in the chest with a .22-caliber handgun. The Bennington Banner says he remains in stable condition at a hospital in Albany, N.Y.

Hall told the newspaper that he does not expect charges to be filed because it's not the general practice of police or prosecutors to charge people who harm themselves.

He said suspicions were aroused early on because Ely-Gardner called a friend instead of dialing 911. Ely-Gardner claimed to have been shot near a Shaw's Supermarket.

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